INTRODUCTION
India, the world’s largest democracy, has been given the world’s lengthiest Constitution, comprising 448 articles divided into 25 parts and 12 schedules. The narrative of how the Indian Constitution came into being, holds a unique place in Indian history. The process involved in formulating such an exhaustive document was not an easy one and involved expert minds working relentlessly day and night to leave behind an amazing legacy for India’s future generations that would be cherished for centuries to come.
HISTORY
Mr. M.N. Roy, an Indian pioneer of the communist movement, is credited with first planting the seed of convening a Constituent Assembly in 1934. Following this, in 1935, the Indian National Congress assumed the central stage with its demand for the formulation of a Constituent Assembly to design. the Indian Constitution. This adamant demand of Indians was finally accepted by the British Government in 1940 by sending a draft proposal with Sir Stafford Cripps. As per Cripps Proposal, Stephen Cripps agreed that a constitution must be established for Indians but the Indians rejected it. Gandhiji dubbed this proposal a “bankrupt bank check” by the British.
Finally, the Cabinet Mission proposed the idea of the Constituent Assembly, which marked the beginning of the process of framing the Indian Constitution, thereby leaving a historical imprint. The Supreme Law of the Natio was framed by the Constituent Assembly between 1946 and 1950 and was finally adopted on November 26, 1949, often celebrated as the ConstitutionDay. The newly drafted constitution of India came into effect on January 26, 1950, in remembrance of which we annually celebrate Republic Day.
COMPOSITION OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
Bengal Narasimha Rao was the pioneer figure in formulating the draft of the Constitution and acted as the Constitutional Advisor. A Constituent Assembly was established under the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 to establish the Indian Constitution. There were 389 members in the Assembly, representing provinces (292), states (93), Chief Commissioner Provinces (3), and Baluchistan (1).
The Constituent Assembly primarily had two roles to play, one was to serve as the Constituent Assembly, while the other was to act as the Parliament. As per the Cabinet Mission Plan, the Constituent Assembly was to have 389 members to be elected and nominated from the places under the direct rule of the British Government. Of these 292 members were the representatives of the provinces, 93 were nominated from the Princely States and 4 were the representatives from the chief commissioner provinces of Delhi, Ajmer-Merwara, Coorg (Karnataka), and British Baluchistan (Pakistan).
The Elections to the 296 seats assigned to the British Indian provinces were completed by August 1946. Congress won 203 seats while Muslim League won 73 seats. This culminated Hindu-Muslim Riots when Muslim League refused to cooperate with Congress. To Tackle the situation, Lord Mountbatten, the last British Governor-General of India, decided to scrap the Cabinet Mission Plan which set in force the Indian Independence Act, 1947 resulting in the division of the Nation.
THE ROLE OF CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
The Constituent Assembly met for the first time on December 9, 1946. This meeting was chaired by Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha. He was the first speaker of the assembly and he preceded over the assembly being the senior-most member. The Muslim League boycotted the Constituent Assembly’s first meeting. When the Muslim League boycotted the inaugural meeting, Winston Churchill, the former Prime Minister of England, compared the meeting to a marriage whose bride is missing. On August 14, 1947, the Assembly reassembled as a sovereign body and successor to the British Parliament’s authority in India.
On December 11, 1946, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was appointed as the Permanent Chairman of the Constituent Assembly. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru proposed the objective resolution in the Assembly on December 13, 2021. The Objective Resolution is the foundation of the preamble of the Indian Constitution. The Constitution’s objectives, nature, and the goals for which the government will strive were all specified in this Objective Resolution.
As the Muslim League was not present, this objective resolution was not passed. In the Constituent Assembly’s first session, the objective motion was rejected. The Constituent Assembly finally passed the objective resolution on January 22, 1947, which was accepted as the basis for the preamble of the Constitution to be framed.
THE MAMMOTH TASK BEGINS
To draft the constitution, the Constituent Assembly established 22 committees of which 9 were major committees and the others were minor ones. A seven-member Drafting Committee led by Dr. B R Ambedkar prepared a draft of the Constitution based on the reports of these committees. The drafting committee set up on 29th August 1947 was vested with the chief task of drafting the constitution after taking into consideration proposals from different committees and taking inspiration from constitutions of different countries around the world. This Committee comprised seven stalwart personalities, with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, as Chairman of the Committee, Dr. K M Munshi, Syed Mohammad Saadullah, N Madhava Rau, N GopalaswamyAyyangar, Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar, and T TKrishnamachari as the other members.
The Committee spent no more than six months preparing its first draft, which was subjected to various changes and recommendations as a result of recommendations, public comments, and various other criticisms before being released as a second draft in October 1948. The Constitution took 2 years, 11 months, and 18 days to be drafted and enacted. Indian Constitution is a detailed and the bulkiest Constitution of the world, containing a preamble and as many as 395 articles divided into 22 parts with 12 schedules and 94 constitutional amendments. The Constitution was adopted on November 26, 1949.
Of the total of 395 articles, some of the articles like Articles 5 to 9, Articles 379, 380, 388, 392, 393 came into force on 26th November 1949 itself, while the remaining articles came into force on Republic Day, i.e., January 26, 1950. With the commencement of the Constitution both the Indian Independence Act, 1947 came into existence thus replacing the aged old the Government of India Act, 1935 which ceased to exist thereafter. At present, our Constitution is decked up with 448 Articles, 25 Parts, and 12 Schedules standing out from amongst different Constitutions of the World. The Bag of Borrowing as our constitution is referred to as is a carefully chosen bag, taking only the best out of all the Constitutions of different Countries which lead to lengthiest & bulkiest handwritten Constitution in the world named as CONSTITUTION OF INDIA.
CONCLUSION
Despite the numerous criticisms leveled at the Constituent Assembly’s operation, one cannot deny that today, if India is living and breathing in the air of sovereignty, democracy, and freedom as well as enjoying its rights and duties vested in both citizens and states of the country, it owes it all to the relentless and tireless efforts made by all those notable personalities which came together to gift India its biggest asset and the most cherish able gift the Constitution of India.